>> well, i think all governments are a work in progress and many governments struggle. afghanistan's government is clearly a work in progress in that it has a difficult time introducing effective local governance in a place like marjah. anywhere in the helmand river valley, which was controlled by the taliban for quite a long time and still has the specter of potential taliban control, the people are in a very difficult position. if they lean too much toward their government and their government cannot defend them then they are in a position of being, of course, endangered in the taliban were to return. so it's very, very difficult. as you say, there's been tremendous progress on the ground there. now it has to continue. >> warner: so it is risky, do you think -- i mean, again the book you write that -- you talk about a video teleconference you were having with the white house in 2009 and you wrote on a board or something "the mission" and it was "defeat the taliban, secure the population." do you think it's risky for the u.s. to be drawing down in earnest when those tw